The present invention relates to carpet, and more particularly relates preferably to the use of leftover yarn for carpets.
In the manufacturing of carpet, rolls or spools of yarn are used wherein the yarn is tufted into a primary backing to form the face of the carpet. Various colors and types of yarn are used to form the various patterns. However, with any manufacturing, there is waste yarn also known as unused yarn or leftover yarn. This typically is the yarn that is leftover on the spool which has not been tufted during a manufacturing run. Furthermore, this yarn typically is not of sufficient quantities to justify using it in another production run. Thus, typically the industry takes this yarn which is leftover and designates it as waste yarn which is sold for a significantly lower value. For instance, average original yarn can cost three dollars a pound whereas leftover waste yarn is sold for fifteen cents to twenty cents per pound thus resulting in a significant economic loss to the carpet manufacturer.
Another problem facing the carpet industry is that certain patterns or lots have to be maintained in significant inventory since many times a production run will not occur again at all or will not occur for some time in the future. When a product run is not done again or not run for some time, many times it is difficult to have the pattern match identically with the previous pattern since the identical colors of the virgin yarn used previously may not be commercially available at a later time or may simply have been altered slightly by a change in dyeing formulations and the like. Thus, many times a carpet manufacturer will maintain a large amount of the production run in case a customer needs additional carpet or replacement carpet due to damage or wear. However, keeping such backup inventory again results in high economic cost to the carpet manufacturing and a waste of storage space. In addition, no matter how much this back up inventory exists, there will come a time where the inventory will run out and the customer simply is informed that there is no suitable carpet to replace the previously sold carpet and thus the customer will have the problem of having carpets that look visually different.
Accordingly, there is a need in the industry to develop a carpet pattern and recipe that will permit a carpet manufacturer to make carpet at any time and yet will be visually acceptable to the carpet user or customer without resulting in the need to keep various lots of inventory.
Furthermore, there is a need in the carpet industry to make use of this waste yarn or unused or leftover yarn in order to avoid the serious devaluing of the yarn as described above.